292 TOWERS AND TANKS FOR WATER-WORKS. 



always subject to change or modification. It is possible that 

 the secondary place given the specifications where litigation has 

 arisen may be due to the fact that the court necessarily is more 

 familiar with the law of contracts than with the mechanics of 

 engineering. However, a little care in drafting a contract, includ- 

 ing specifications, will prevent inaccuracy or ambiguity. 



While the exact intent of the parties should be understood 

 and carefully and accurately incorporated into the body of the 

 contract through its phraseology, the terms of the specifications, 

 while intended as a collateral and integral part of this instrument, 

 should be exact in meaning and expression, but not necessarily 

 minute as to detail, as unnecessary refinement is more likely 

 to lead to confusion and misunderstanding than to clear com- 

 prehension. 



Whilst generalities should be scrupulously avoided, specifica- 

 tions should be so drawn that a broad treatment and interpreta- 

 tion of the particular matter should be possible, as results, re- 

 gardless of specific limitations and narrow exactions, should 

 be attempted, and in almost any specific case a greater success , 

 will undoubtedly be secured by permitting individuality and a 

 certain latitude in the design and execution of the particular 

 work. 



This freedom for individual expression should not be so 

 licensed as to prove embarrassing in allowing competition along 

 lines where comparison is impossible and relative merit inde- 

 terminate, nor yet such as would offer a premium or lead com- 

 petitors, in the keenness of commercial rivalry, into experimental 

 practice to an extent where failure would prove disastrous un 

 the responsibility for such failure has been discounted in advance- 

 and the liability for a possible disaster has been clearly pku <1 

 where it properly belongs upon the promotor or expeTime-nte-r. 

 In the preparation of the specifications for structural work no 

 deviation from a high and comprehensive standard as to tin- 

 quality of the materials and workmanship should be permit t d. 



